It's below zero...why not wear some floral nails?

It's winter here in Minnesota. It's below zero outside. There are no nice days in the foreseeable future. Christmas is over. It's a looooong time til spring.

Alright. Enough griping about how crummy it is here, let's focus on bright happy things. Floral print sounds nice doesn't it? This mani makes me think of bright, soft, cottony fabric. I needed something to brighten up my icy mood yesterday. :-)

I chose a matte topcoat, because I thought it looked more like fabric. My love for matte topcoats is growing. This one is by NYC and it's called "Matte me crazy". I picked it up at target for under $2!

The two main colors in this mani are OPI's "My Vampire is Buff" and China Glaze "A Rose Among Thorns". For the flowers and the dots, I used my dotting tools!

I'm pretty pleased with my floral print mani, what do you think of it?

When beauty betrays you...

Alright...time for some cold, hard reality. We all know that nail polish is awesome. We all know that the color options out there are staggering. I love painting my nails every day, at times. Sometimes I have 5, 6 or more polishes going on in one mani. 

Sometimes, those lovely colors betray you.

EEEEEEEEEK!!! That is what's left on my nails after removing my Christmas Mani. For the green I used Klean Color's "metallic green". Never again. Never again will I use that color. I had TWO COATS of nail envy under that polish! 

In my crisis, I consulted with some fellow online lacqueristas. I've heard in the past that baking soda, water and lemon is a good way to get rid of staining. My pal Erin had some Christmas staining too, and she recommended that I try making a paste with those three things and SCRUBBING, SCRUBBING, SCRUBBING!!!

I worked with this consistency for awhile, but then added more baking soda until it was more like wet sand. I scrubbed for a very long time, and I have to say...it did work! After I felt like I couldn't scrub anymore, I washed my hands well and grabbed my buffing block. 

HOORAY! 99% stain free. There are still a few faint spots, but I didn't want to buff them anymore than I had already.  Please pardon my dry cuticles. After a couple generous coats of nail envy, at bedtime I loaded my nails up with my new Emerald and Ash Pumpkin Apple Butter cuticle oil!

That cuticle oil just might be my new favorite. It smells delicious, and it soaks into the skin right away. Today, my cuticles feel moisturized and they don't look quite as tore up!

Here is my final result. Much better, right??

Merry Christmas!

Hello everyone! It's Christmas! This is my last Holiday mani for the year, so I thought I'd make it count! I'm also very proud of the stamping in this one. I am really lacking in the nail stamping department, but I like how it turned out! 

I've got a whole lot of colors in this mani...a little bit of Butter London, a little bit of Revlon Top Speed and a LOT of Model City! It's fun, it's festive, and over the top (of course).

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Love,

Cass 

I've got stars in my eyes!

Oh my goodness gracious you guys. I am so in love with this gorgeous rose gold flakie by Indigo Bananas! It is called, "A Star to Sail By" and it is just an beautiful as I'd hoped it would be.

In my pictures I used three coats, and I probably could have used four, for better coverage. 

This polish is so different from the other rose gold sparkles I've seen. Rather than pieces of glitter, this one has flakes of color! It's got a mirror like effect, right?

This color is perfect for a holiday party! It's flashy, without being over the top!

You can find Indigo Bananas on Etsy. Check them out for this, and TONS of other gorgeous colors!

Cozy up with some Christmas sweater nails!

I'm here with a short and sweet post today. I've got some Christmas sweater inspired nail art for you! I took part of a Reddit challenge that asked for ugly Christmas sweater nails...and I must say, I think mine turned out kinda cute!!

I used my DIY nail decal method for this mani. I have a snowflake paper punch that came in super handy!!

The glitter in this Mani is "O Christmas Tree 2.0" by Model City Polish!

Will you be trying any Christmas nail art this season??

My two favorites, teamed up in one CHILLY mani!

We all know that I have a "thing" for Model City polish, but you may not know that I also have a thing for Black Cat Lacquer! They are both incredibly beautiful lines...so many lovely colors! I received a TON of polish in the mail yesterday, and it was like Christmas come early! Model City, Black Cat Lacquer, Julep and ManGlaze! Oooooooh boy!

 You should know that yesterday in MN it was -12 when I got up! 

YIKES!!!

The two colors I chose for this mani are "Cold Snap" by Model City Polish and "Baby it's cold outside" by Black Cat Lacquer. Pretty dang appropriate if you ask me!!!

"Cold Snap" is part of the "Ode to a southern holo" collection. I was looking at my MCP collection and I realized I didn't have any of her vibrant colors! This is a brilliant bright blue with a lovely holographic twist! I could have gotten away with one coat, but just for good measure I did two.

"Baby it's cold outside" is a white crelly (my FAVE) with pastel matte glitters and snowflakes scattered throughout. There is also a subtle holographic silver shimmer to it. It wasn't thick, it wasnt goopy, and I was able to get great coverage with 3 coats. I was gifted this one by a fellow Reddit Polisher! Thanks again ChelseyCheckers!

It's such a soft, icy wintery look, isn't it?

Think warm thoughts for me! I'm gonna go get a heated blanket or something!

Model City Polish and the Christmas collection!

First off, I want to start this post with a little apology. One, to you, the reader. Two, to Nina, the creator and mastermind at MCP. I finally found my Nikon camera and was very excited to take some macro shots with it! Turns out, it doesn't take the best pictures. I'm no photographer, so I did the best with what I had. It's been a little while since I've posted, and I sincerely apologize.

So, lets move on to this fabulous collection! I have 3 of 6 colors in the Holiday lineup. I chose Coal, O Christmas Tree 2.0 and Sugar cookie!

First off, let's talk about Coal. Generally, you don't want to get coal for Christmas. Trust me, this is coal that you want. In all honesty, the pic just doesn't do it justice.

It's a black jelly that is just so beautiful, and sparkly and magical. Every which way you look at it, its sparkling. Another beautiful part of this color is that Nina is donating $2 from the sale of each bottle of Coal to her local Humane Society! So awesome!

Next, we have O Christmas Tree 2.0. This is the one where the picture color got a little funky, so sorry.

O Christmas Tree 2.0 is a glitter topper that has every type of glitter packed into it! Green shreds, silver and blue and gold stars! It's like your decorated Christmas tree on your nails! I used a red base in my pics, but you could wear it SO MANY ways!

Lastly, we have my personal favorite, Sugar Cookie. I'm such a sucker for white crelly polish with glitter in it. This one is adorable! 

Sugar cookie is a white crelly base with gold, red and green metallic glitter mixed into it. It's so yummy looking, I just want to eat it! Baking cookies is my favorite part of the holidays, and this polish just totally captures it. I love it. 

Like I said, there are 3 other shades in this Christmas release and they are ALL lovely!

Nina has these and MANY other pretties over in her Etsy shop! 

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